What Game Theory means to me

I was recently introduced to a book, through some trading acquaintances, called The art of Strategy: A Game Theorist Guide to success in business and in life . Not only was it a long title, it was a long read. It was all about Game Theory, something I never knew existed, nor had I ever heard the term ever in my life. But it explained something for me: Why I Loved Games. I mean, A LOT of people love gaming, and it is no surprise. Gaming is probably one of the greatest human activities in the history of man. Gaming , ironically, doesn’t just pertain to games, but to business as well. Hence my love for the markets.

I have often sucked at games, but retained a passion for it. Like chess. When I was in sixth grade, I fell in love with chess. I joined the chess club, and within a year, realized that I was terrible at chess. But I loved it. It was hard to pay attention when you lost so much, and blurring the lines between what is and what isn’t didn’t seem to help much either, but I kept at it. Not gruelingly, but with passion. I lost often, and with passion. I accepted defeat and congratulated my opponent and would always ask “where did you see the winning move”?

Of course, in the markets , you can’t get the same kind of brotherly love from another who has just taken you to the washers. But I am sure their winning move would do nothing but baffle you anyways. The point being, game theory seems to be part of my life, mostly in a form I never knew it existed, and now that I am aware of it, I know it will be a good ride.

I started out, as most young boys in America do, getting a Nintendo System at the age of six, in 1987 . I loved my game system, and it would always play my two hours of it every day ( still love my mom for constricting my game play ! ). Master Blaster, Mario, Metroid, Link, and on and on.

I also enjoyed board games, and would make my dad play with me every day. I loved card games, and when I first learned poker, I was obsessed. I have a few board games today, and love playing them still. I want to have a collection of famous and not so famous board games. The classics are the best.

When I was in middle school, I found RPG’s , namely, Dungeons and Dragons . Being that Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy were my favorite games of all time, D&D took up most of my life until I was 16. I also played shadowrunner ( a futuristic type RPG ) and White Wolf systems ( a vampire modern day RPG ).

When I started reading this book, the Game Theory book, I realized how my love for gaming actually had meaning. Especially the part where I would lose a lot and still enjoy the game ( chess was really the only game I lost a lot at ). When I was a young teen , I started learning how to program C++ so I could , you guessed it, develop video games!